Faculty Action Alters Loeb's Fall Repertoire

Unless Faculty compliance, swift casting, and remarkable technical work follow swiftly on each other's heels, the Dramatic Club will present only two plays on the Loeb Theatre's main stage this term.

The fate of the possible third play will depend on whether its director, Paul Ronder '62, can assemble a complete production staff by Friday of this week. The play Ronder hopes to organize is Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author.

At an HDC meeting last night, it was definitely announced that Webster's White Devil and Ibsen's Romersholm will take the October and December Loeb slots, respectively. Ronder had received permission to fill the November slot last spring, but he did not at that time announce the play he would use.

Last week, when he revealed his decions to attempt Ulysses in Nightgown--which has a large cast and many technical complexities--the Faculty Committee on Drama advised that no six-week effort on Ulysses could be successful.

The Committee suggested that Ronder and Caroline Cross '62, director of Rosmersholm--a relatively small play--switch places on the Loeb calendar. Miss Cross declined, however, citing commitments to her staff.

Ronder told the assembly last night he still planned to do Ulysses this spring, and expressed confidence that he could "whip up" a November production of Six Characters quickly if he obtained faculty approval. But others doubted with equal conviction.

Several members of the club expressed the feeling that students had not only lost control, but even a sense of control over plays to be put on at Loeb. One observer, not an HDC member, said he found "no obligation to the Harvard population" among those who spoke at the meeting.

Charles W. Hayford '63, President of the HDC and producer of White Devil, cautioned that the Club had backed only two shows a term in previous years, and could not definitely count on the personnel and energy necessary for an expanded effort. Hayford also indicated that White Devil, which opens Oct. 26, was making satisfactory progress in rehearsal.